Vortex Update 2 - Welcome to the World of Warhammer
[Content Warning for Slavery]
High Elves (Teclis)
On the Western coast of Lustria are found the Great Turtle Isles. It is here that Teclis has begun his search for Waystone Fragments. Setting up a base at first seems easy until the local Lizardmen known as the Sentinels of Xeti prove to be a problem. Teclis needs to establish dominion over the area but the Lizardmen are highly territorial and protective of their lands.
To the North is the Blood Hall Coven, a group of malicious Dark Elves that for the time being aren’t a bother. Then down South is High Queen Khalida, she has set up in Lustria as well for reasons unknown to Teclis, providing a possible rival of great power in the future. For now he must deal with the Sentinels of Xeti.
Loremaster Talarian has a mission for Teclis, to capture a settlement belonging to the Sentinels of Xeti.
He also requests the construction of a Rally Field.
Building a Rally Field is easy enough. It only takes a couple of turns. The cost is 2000 gold, at this point Teclis is earning 1556 gold per turn. Settlements have 5 levels to them, with small settlements capped at tier 3 and main settlements for each province are capped at tier 5. Tiers determine how many buildings you can have in a settlement and what level they can be. As such if a building caps at level 3 or below you want it in a minor settlement and if it caps at 4 or 5 you want that building in the main settlement.
For the time being it would be a good idea to start recruiting units. Because we own a Militia Camp in our province we are able to recruit some basic infantry, Spearmen at 500 gold with an upkeep of 125 and Archers at 475 gold and 118 upkeep. It costs money to initially recruit a unit as well each turn they are in an army they cost money to keep. You’ll have to do a little bit of math when playing to understand how many units of what types you can keep in your armies.
To the South we’ll be taking the Mud Isles as Teclis. When approaching ruins you can choose to do nothing, Colonize, or do a Treasure Hunt. Treasure Hunt is something we’ll see later on. For now though after paying for colonizing we’ll want to build up the settlement. It starts out at tier 0 and needs to be upgraded to start having any buildings or for it to make any money.
Dark Elves (Morathi)
In the Ancient City of Quintex Morathi has gathered her Cult of Pleasure. They are located South of Naggaroth’s capital where her son Malekith roosts and broods. With him conquering the cold North Morathi is left to the desolate South. Surrounding her are dissenting Dreadlord of various creeds that she must now bring to heel. They may resist, but Morathi dominates whether they wish her to or not.
The Bleak Hold sits to the East and is Morathi’s current goal. But to get to it she’ll have to deal with surrounding threats, such as the territories taken by the Bleak Holds to the West and South, Ironspike and The Moon Shard.
Felicion has a quest for her to capture a settlement belonging to the Bleak Holds. This is an easy enough task.
Right away Morathi assaults an enemy army and takes hold of its survivors. With the army wiped out handily she Enslaves those leftover. When an army is defeated you may have different options that have different results, such as Executing or Ransoming captives. When you Enslave them as the Dark Elves you take them into your slave pool.
Slavery is a system only for the Dark Elves. They may take slaves and use them for economic purposes or rituals. Having slaves increases the amount of money a settlement produces but also causes Public Order problems. Public Order determines whether you will have a Rebellion or not. When Public Order in a province reaches -100 they have a Rebellion, an army will spawn that will then attack the province. They can be farmed but are dangerous and will require management of multiple armies to be both aggressive while defending against them.
During the battle Morathi lost a group of Dreadspears, yes they’re actually called that. To regain the losses we’re going to recruit more after moving back into our own territory. Dreadspears cost 450 gold to recruit and have 112 upkeep.
Lizardmen (Lord Mazdamundi)
Hexoatl, the City of the Sun, is watched over by and home to the oldest living Slann, Lord Mazdamundi. Nearby are the living mountains the Grey Guardians which were formed by Mazdamundi himself. Here Mazdamundi’s seat of power has fallen into decline, but with his awakening it is time to retake Lustria and once again become defenders of the world.
Skeggi have overtaken the nearby lands. These Norscans who follow the gods of Chaos are a taint upon the jungles of Lustria. With his Temple Guards Lord Mazdamundi is able to retake the Monolith of the Fallen Gods. After each battle the victor receives loot which is based upon the cost of the loser’s units/structures. Mazdamundi chooses to Occupy the city without looting leaving it in pristine shape. He wastes no time and begins to recruit Skinks to his army.
Skinks and Saurus make up the majority of the Lizardmen. Skinks are smaller and more lithe with smooth skin and large crests atop their heads that goes down the back of their necks. They can tend to be more cunning. Saurus are larger and more reptilian with thick muscular bodies and powerful jaws and claws. Saurus are more costly than Skinks but are generally better, though Saurus lack ranged weapons and are instead all melee units.
In Hexoatl there is cause to upgrade the settlement to the next tier. With that in mind using a natural resource, gold, we are able to build a Gold Mine. These structures are boons for their owner that heavily increase supplies of gold making it easier to recruit more units and build more.
Lord Mazdamundi has leveled up. When a Hero or Lord levels up you’re able to choose skills and abilities from them. In general there are three main trees that depend on whether a character is a fighter or mage. Magic/Combat, Army(Battle), Army(Campaign). We’ll be taking Route Marcher which is an excellent choice. It gives more campaign movement and allows you to more easily control a region and allows you to do more in less turns. In the future though we’ll be working on Mazdamundi’s magic.
Skaven (Lord Skrolk)
At the ruins of Oyxl Lord Skrolk has taken to defiling the jungles nearby. Below the ground there is host to his swarming masses, the Skaven of Clan Pestilens are ready to begin conquering the region. Nearby the Lizardmen known as Southern Sentinels have set up and are working to undo the harm caused by Lord Skrolk.
Before Skrolk can begin to conquer he needs to first establish a foothold. His eyes are set upon the Sentinel of Time ruins. They are too far for him to reach with his starting position and campaign movement range.
Sometimes settlements have special buildings that can be built only at that location. The Corrupted Spawning Pool is one such that Clan Pestilens has access to at Oyxl in the Lost Valley province. With it Oyxl will gain a garrison of Plague Monks, powerful melee infantry of the Skaven. With them there protecting the settlement, we are able to move further South safely.
Tomb Kings (High Queen Khalida)
In the Copper Desert High Queen Khalida has taken control of The Forgotten Isles. From here she sets out to search for the Black Books of Nagash. Unfortunately for them, the Sentinels of Xeti are in the way. These Lizardmen are unfortunate for they shall taste the venomous sting of Khalida.
As a start Khalida moves to take The Dust Gate to the East. It is easy to take and with that she has already cut down the Sentinels by a 1/4th.
We construct a Crypt Barracks which will be done in 3 turns. The Tomb Kings make little gold each turn. Because of this it is difficult to construct buildings in settlements often. This is a constant problem one will face when playing as the Tomb Kings. The Crypt Barracks allow for Nehekhara Warriors. They’ll be a bit stronger of a front-line portion for Khalida’s army.
We recruit some more units. But they do not have a cost or upkeep, this is a feature of the Tomb Kings. Tomb Kings are limited in how many of each unit they can recruit depending on recruitment buildings they have. So they do not have an upkeep but still have limitations.
We’ve reached the point where it is time to research Technologies. Tech is highly important and will give boons to your armies, both in and out of battle. For the Tomb Kings each dynasty you research as well increases how long it takes to research techs but also allows you to host another army. Because of this tech is far more important for them than any other faction They dynasty we’ll be choosing gives bonuses to archers which will be very helpful in the future. Queen Khalida gets a bonus to the ammunition amount for her missile units which we’ll be taking advantage of.